Catherine Opie & Cliff May

 Catherine Opie photographs 2 Cliff May homes for the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara.

From the NYT: "Opie’s photographs are portraits of the houses, revealing their individual identities and the qualities that have ensured their enduring appeal.
“Cliff May is not as celebrated as Schindler or Neutra,” Opie says, “But he should be. The simplicity of his designs is amazing, and I really appreciate how he incorporated a real California persona into their post-and-beam construction.
I would live in a Cliff May house in a heartbeat.”
Opie explains that she also included portraits of the occupants “to show the warmth of the houses,” adding that “by focusing on only two of May’s designs, I got to know more about the houses.
I wanted the pictures to have more personality, just like the houses and the people who live in them.”

Cliff May Home Tour

I went on a Cliff May home tour in San Diego recently.

"Cliff May, unlike other architects, did not initially desire to become an architect. In fact, he did not become a certified architect until the last years of his life. His career as a designer began soon after he dropped out of college.

A student who excelled in music, May attended San Diego State College, but due to the Great Depression, dropped out and joined his parents’ neighbors, the Styris family, to design and build furniture.

His work sold so well, he was encouraged to place his Monterey style furniture in a new home that was for sale. The house was soon sold, and it was due primarily to May’s furniture.

May continued to place his furniture in homes, and the homes continued to sell fast.

His popularity encouraged May to decide to design and build a home himself."

He built his first home when he was 23!

The homes were great, lots of well thought out details that still work well for today's homes.

Loving the garage door designs!

New Cliff May Book

Cliff May And The Modern Ranch House is out now.
Cliff May's influence in Southern California is far and wide reaching, lots of homes in Long Beach, even a tiny subdivision in Costa Mesa!
Looks like Doug and Rochelle Kramer's home made it into the book, I have been to their house before, they did a great job restoring it.
bettershelter says: BUY IT!